F 

392 
R5P7 


BANCROFT 

LIBRARY 
•»• 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


AN  OLD  EL  PASO  LANDMARK— POSTON'S  CAMP,  1856, 


EL  PASO  STREET,  IN  1886. 


NEW  COURT  HOUSE  BUILDING,  EL  PASO,  TEXAS. 


PASO  DEL  NORTE-MEXICAN  SIDE, 


VALLEY  SCENE  NEAR  EL  PASO-ON  THE  RIO  GRANDE, 


RIO  GRANDE  IRRIGATION  AND  LAND  CO'S  MAP. 


PRICE,    ONE    DOLLAR. 


IRRIGATION 


BY 


CHARLES  D.  POSTON, 


LATE  COMMISSIONER  OR  THE  UNITED  STATES 


n 


Ex-Delegate  in  Congress  from  Arizona, 

Ex- Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Ex-Register  of  the  Land  Office, 

Ex- Consular  Agent  at  Nogales, 

Ex- Military  Agent  at  El  Paso, 
Etc.,  Etc.,  Etc. 


AUTHOR    OK 

'EUROPE   IN   THE   Sr.M.MKR   TlME,"     "THE   SUN  WORSHIPPERS   OF   ASIA, 

"APACHE  LAND,"  ETC.,  ETC. 


CHICAGO  : 
THE  J.  M.  W.  JONES  STATIONERY  AND  PRINTING  COMPANY. 

1887. 


Entered  according-  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1887,  by  CHARLES  D.  POSTON,  in  the  office 
of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  Washington,  I).  C. 


IRRIGATION. 


IRRIGATION  existed  in  Egypt  before  the  pyramids  were  erected.  It 
has  fed  the  millions  of  Asia  since  the  creation  of  the  world.  It 

nurtured  Rome  into  existence,  and  was  practiced  in  America  before 
Columbus  discovered  the  New  World,  and  yet  the  people  of  the  United 
States  east  of  the  Mississippi  river  know  but  little  about  it — and  care  less. 

The  Moors  introduced  irrigation  into  Spain,  and  the  Spaniards 
imported  an  imperfect  system  of  irrigation  into  Mexico,  Texas,  Cali- 
fornia, etc.  The  Valley  of  the  Nile  has  yielded  its  fruitful  abundance  from 
irrigated  lands  for  countless  ages,  and  Cato  wrote  learnedly  advocating  its 
introduction  into  Italy;  but  the  greatest  achievement  of  modern  times  has 
been  the  improvement  of  the  system  of  irrigation  in  the  East  Indies,  by 
the  British  Government  of  India.  Irrigation  in  the  East  Indies  antedates 
all  history ;  the  Great  Mogul  gave  it  a  grand  impetus  during  the  magnifi- 
cence of  his  reign. 

When  the  British  Government  (after  the  Sepoy  mutiny)  took  over 
the  control  of  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  subjects  in 
India,  the  first  duty  of  Statesmanship  was  to  provide  labor  and  food  for 
the  people,  and  this  has  been  accomplished  by  the  extension  of  a  system 
of  irrigating  canals  unequalled  in  the  world.  Famine  in  India  is  rendered 
impossible,  as  long  as  the  Himalayas  give  their  melted  snows  to  fructify 
the  Indian  valleys.  The  Ganges  Canal,  with  its  branches,  is  three 
thousand  five  hundred  miles  long. 

Among  other  duties  in  the  service  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  it  was  a  pleasure,  nearly  twenty  years  ago,  to  investigate  and 
report  upon  the  system  of  irrigation  throughout  ASIA;  and  in  this  service 
I  learned  much  in  Japan,  China,  India,  Persia,  Arabia  and  Egypt ;  and 
subsequently  observed  much  on  the  subject  in  Italy  and  Spain.  In  Cali- 
fornia as  early  as  1850,  it  gratified  a  youthful  curiosity  to  follow  the 
irrigating  ditches  which  those  primitive  people  had  made,  and  subsequently 
the  grand  irrigating  canals  in  Arizona  and  Northern  Mexico  excited  a 
livley  interest  in  a  lost  and  perished  race,  who  have  left  little  or  no  other 
evidence  of  their  existence  upon  earth. 

It  was  my  fortune,  or  misfortune,  to  traverse  the  Rio  Grande  nearly 
a  third  of  a  century  ago,  where  I  found  a  thriftless,  lazy  class  of  people 
basking  in  the  opulence  of  eternal  sunshine,  and  deriving  their  meager 


Y'JlMl  r,  1,1    '1  ^0  cn  31'iMi    ']  I!  'I 

10  IRRIGATION. 

subsistence  from  the  richest  soil  in  the  world,  by  the  most  primitive 
methods  of  agriculture,  and  when  I  left  the  Rio  Grande  in  May  last,  there 
was  scarcely  a  perceptible  improvement  in  agriculture.  The  people  are 
too  lazy  to  turn  over  in  bed — and  with  a  soil  that  will  produce  onions, 
emitting  no  more  smell  than  a  turnip,  I  will  solemnly  swear  that  they 
were  imparting  onions  from  Spain. 

While  the  people  of  California  have  built  an  empire  on  the  Pacific, 
which  is  the  admiration  of  the  world — and  the  Great  West  goes  marching 
on — the  people  on  the  Rio  Grande  plough  with  a  stick,  dig  fuel  with  a 
hoe,  and  cut  hay  with  an  axe.  They  irrigate  nothing  but  their  throats. 
In  fact,  since  enterprising  people  have  built  railroads  to  their  doors,  they 
have  ceased  producing  anything,  and  import  everything.  The  advance 
in  real  estate  enables  them  to  occupy  a  fundamental  position — waiting  for 
strangers  to  come  along  and  buy  lots.  The  grapes  of  the  Rio  Grande 
are  of  a  different  quality  and  flavor  from  those  grown  elsewhere,  and  what 
little  wine  they  make  is  consumed  with  avidity  in  the  Valley.  They  have 
ceased  to  grow  wheat,  and  import  flour.  (They  used  to  sell  flour  to  the 
Government  at  12 J  cents  per  pound.) 

WATER,  WATER,  EVERYWHERE  !  AND  NOT  A  DROP  TO 

IRRIGATE. 

.  The  greatest  prerequisite  to  success  in  agriculture,  fruit  raising,  etc., 
in  the  Western  States  and  Territories,  is  water.  A  constant  and  abundant 
supply  of  water  is  the  true  key  to  Western  progress  and  development. 
In  nearly  all  of  that  country  the  rainfall  is  totally  insufficient,  and  not  to 
be  relied  upon ;  hence  Western  people  have  been  forced  to  study  the 
problem  of  irrigation.  Having  been  forced  to  look  into  this  question,  we 
naturally  try  to  trace  up  its  origin  and  history. 

The  system  found  in  California  and  in  this  country  has  been  bequeathed 
to  us  by  Mexico,  and  was  inherited  by  them  from  Spain.  Looking  farther 
back,  we  find  that  it  was  one  among  the  many  good  gifts  which  the  Moors 
gave  to  Spain  when  they  overran  that  country  in  the  eighth  century. 
Whether  the  Moors  obtained  it  direct  from  the  Arabs,  or  took  it  from  the 
Egyptians,  we  are  unable  to  determine  at  this  late  day.  But  in  inquiring 
after  its  still  more  ancient  origin  and  source,  we  must  not  stop  this  side 
of  the  valleys  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris.  If  we  start  here,  in  the  dim 
and  shadowy  ages  of  antiquity,  beyond  which  even  tradition  becomes 
unintelligible,  we  will  find  that,  with  few  exceptions,  the  highest  types  of 
civilization  and  the  brightest  examples  of  progress  and  prosperity  have 
been  located,  sustained  and  nurtured  by  systems  of  irrigation. 


IRRIGATION.  11 


ANCIENT   IRRIGATION. 

The  glory,  grandeur  and  wealth  of  royal  Babylon,  of  Nineveh,  Thebes, 
Bagdad,  Cairo  and  Memphis,  around  which,  as  common  centers,  the  civili- 
zation of  great  periods  of  time  hung  and  radiated,  were  all  attributable  to 
and  dependent  upon  the  agricultural  perfection  surrounding  them,  and 
made  possible  by  IRRIGATION.  We  might  go  further,  and  say  that  it  has 
been  the  support  and  sustenance  of  the  civilized  world  long  after  the 
cessation  of  Roman  sway.  For  none  will  fail  to  recognize  that  the  Nile 
country  alone  supported  what  was  known  as  the  Roman  world,  and  that 
Egypt  was  always  regarded  as  the  granary  of  the  empire.  The  Egyptian 
people  were  overthrown  and  vanquished,  but  their  system  of  irrigation 
survived  and  gave  sustenance  to  Roman  civilization,  and  remained  intact 
throughout  all  the  vicissitudes  and  changes.  If  anything,  irrigation  was 
better  in  the  days  of  Semiramis  than  in  the  days  of  Boabdil,  although,  like 
the  other  concomitants  of  the  beautiful  Alhambra,  orchards,  vineyards  and 
meadows,  as  then  seen  along  the  banks  of  the  Guadalquiver,  speak  of  a 
splendid  development,  both  material  and  intellectual.  The  Moors  obtained 
from  their  Arab  progenitors  a  taste  for  astronomy  and  some  inclination 
toward  practical  mathematics,  and  to  some  extent  we  find  applied  mathe- 
matics in  its  crude  state  assisting  in  making  large  portions  of  their  country 
bloom  and  blossom  as  the  rose  by  the  ingenious  devices  which  the  Moors 
had  of  supplying  water  to  the  gardens,  orchards,  vineyards  and  beautiful 
meadows  which  dotted  old  Hispania  during  their  occupancy. 

It  is  a  fact  which  cannot  be  controverted,  that  after  the  recon quest 
of  Spain  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Moriscoes,  Spain  began  to  decline. 
The  splendid  schools  of  Granada,  and  the  numerous  manufactories  of 
Valencia  and  other  places  gradually  faded  away  and  left  Spain  without 
any  support,  save  that  which  she  gathered  by  the  sword,  for  she  had 
neglected  almost  entirely  her  irrigation  system ;  and  the  apology  for  one 
which  we  have,  and  which  was  found  in  California  when  that  State  was 
acquired,  is  the  system  handed  down  by  the  successors  of  those  Spaniards 
who  vanquished  and  expelled  the  Moriscoes  from  Spain. 

PROGRESS   REQUIRED. 

It  is  my  purpose  now  to  show  the  inadequacy  of  this  system,  and  the 
present  results  of  it,  as  compared  with  the  capabilities  and  possibilities  of 
a  new  system  which  the  progressive  American  demands  and  will  have. 
We  have  touched  but  very  briefly  upon  its  antiquity,  for  the  reason  that 
four-fifths,  we  might  even  say  nine-tenths,  of  English-speaking  people  are 


12  IRRIGATION. 


practically  unacquainted  with  this  system.  Their  civilization,  compara- 
tively speaking,  is  in  its  infancy;  it  is  still  jejune,  and  has  grown  up  in  a 
climate  of  moisture  and  regular  rainfall,  and  operating  upon  what  might 
be  termed  virgin  soil,  and  until  recently  the  people  of  the  United  States 
had  no  necessity  of  irrigation.  But  times  are  changing,  and  the  time  will 
come  when  four-fifths  of  the  population  of  America  may  be  dependent 
upon  irrigation  in  their  agricultural  pursuits.  Then,  we  say,  we  will  do 
well  to  look  into  this  question,  and  when  the  American  idea  once  takes 
hold  of  it,  systems  new  and  prolific  will  evolve  wonderful  results. 

Having  brought  the  reader  down  to  the  consideration  of  this  point, 
we  make  the  broad  statement  that  the  results  of  irrigation  in  California, 
Colorado,  Arizona  and  New  Mexico  show,  in  a  large  majority  of  instances, 
an  increase  of  one  hundred  per  cent,  over  results  dependent  upon  rainfall 
alone  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States.  The  history  of  the  West  proves 
this  statement  to  be  correct.  This  once  admitted,  then  in  the  valley  of  the 
Rio  Grande  the  soil,  the  climate  and  the  water  must  cause  the  reader  to 
stop  and  investigate,  with  renewed  and  eager  interest,  the  conditions  and 
statements  which  are  placed  before  them. 

THE   AMERICAN   NILE. 

Our  Rio  Grande  is  the  American  Nile.  The  similarity  is  complete 
— the  analogy  remarkable.  The  Nile  has  its  source  in  the  interior  of 
Africa,  in  the  lakes  of  Herodotus,  of  Livingston  and  of  Stanley,  the  Alps 
of  Abyssinia,  many  of  which  are  covered  in  their  winter  time  by  heavy 
masses  of  snow.  The  lower  portions  of  the  great  plateau  are  visited  dur- 
ing April  by  perfect  deluges  of  rain,  such  as  only  tropical  countries  can 
produce.  The  accumulation  of  these  torrential  rains,  and  the  melting  of 
the  Alpine  snows,  causes  the  river  to  rise  with  almost  clock-like  regularity 
between  the  first  and  fifth  days  of  May,  and  by  the  end  of  that  month  it 
is  booming  and  bank  full.  The  turbid  floods  go  tearing  their  way  through 
rough  defiles  and  deep  canons  that  fissure  a  volcanic  country,  the  forma- 
tion of  which,  travelers  tell  us,  is  very  much  like  that  of  Colorado,  with 
limestone,  granite,  and  occasional  vast  trachyte  formations  predominating. 
The  waters  become  thoroughly  charged  with  a  combination  of  mineral 
ingredients,  which  contain  in  themselves  all  the  elements  of  fertility. 
When  the  turbid  floods  reach  the  great  valley  of  Nubia  and  Egypt  they 
are  of  a  slimy  consistence,  and  about  the  beginning  of  June,  just  before 
the  annual  planting  time  begins  in  that  country,  they  commence  to  over- 
flow their  banks  and  spread  over  the  valley  lands,  which  have  been  in  a 
state  of  cultivation  ever  since  Abraham's  time,  and  probably  long  before. 


IRRIGATION.  13 


Whatever  the  crops  of  the  preceding  year  may  have  abstracted  from  the 
soil  is  more  than  restored  by  the  abundant  deposit  of  fertile  mud  which 
the  river  leaves  behind  when  its  period  of  boom  is  over.  The  lands  are 
found  covered  with  a  crust  of  stiff  slime,  containing  lime,  potash,  chlorides, 
ammonia,  and  various  other  valuable  ingredients.  Into  this  rich  slime 
the  Egyptian  fellah  casts  his  seed,  and  in  an  incredibly  short  time,  with 
scarcely  any  cultivation,  and  only  such  subsequent  and  additional  irriga- 
tion as  the  reservoirs  filled  during  the  river's  rise  will  allow,  he  reaps 
more  than  an  hundred  fold.  No  manure  is  ever  applied,  but  the  soil  is 
constantly  getting  richer,  and  bears  at  the  present  day,  after  a  thousand 
years  of  neglect  and  mismanagement,  better  crops  than  in  the  days  of  the 
Pharaohs  and  Ptolemies. 

THE   RIO   GRANDE. 

High  up  on  the  interior  plateau  of  Southern  Colorado,  in  the 
legendary  country  of  San  Juan,  among  wild  crags  and  heaven-aspiring 
battlements  covered  with  eternal  snow,  rises  the  Rio  Grande,  or  as  the 
Spaniards,  who  must  have  seen  it  first  some  time  in  May  or  June,  1538, 
called  it  the  Brave  River  of  the  North.  It  rises  in  the  great  porphyritic 
formation  of  the  San  Juan,  near  Ouray  and  Lake  City,  and  is  fed  by  the 
immense  snow  masses  that  almost  constantly  cover  that  inhospitable 
country.  It  tears  its  way  out  like  a  young  giant,  grinding  the  rocks  to 
pieces  as  it  goes  along,  and  becomes  surcharged  with  their  mineral  con- 
stituents, identically  the  same  that  the  waters  of  the  Nile  contain,  and 
only  adding  an  immense  quantity  of  aluminoid  detritus,  which  makes  it 
muddier  even  than  the  Missouri  itself.  The  similarity  of  the  chemical 
constituents  of  the  two  kinds  of  water  has  often  been  noted  by  scientific 
travelers  and  experts.  Both,  after  being  allowed  to  settle,  show  a  liquid  of 
limpid  purity,  and  of  remarkably  pleasant  taste  and  wholesome  character. 
But  in  their  native  turbulency,  both  are  equally  muddy,  and  leave  the 
same  thick  sediment  of  slimy  mud  behind,  after  their  waters  recede  from 
an  overflow.  This  takes  place  with  our  Rio  Grande  usually  in  May  and 
June,  when  the  immense  snow  masses  of  the  San  Juan  country  begin  to 
melt.  Then  the  river  plays  some  fantastic  pranks,  occasionally  overflow- 
ing its  banks  from  foot-hill  to  foot-hill. 

These  amiable  eccentricities  will  have  to  be  curbed  when  the  popula- 
tion of  the  valley  becomes  denser  and  more  Americanized.  Judicious 
rip-rapping  at  exposed  angles,  and  a  general  planting  of  the  banks  with 
willows  and  Bermuda  grass,  and  the  building  of  the  great  canal,  will 
prevent  overflows  except  by  means  of  the  irrigating  channels. 


14  IRRIGATION. 


This  annual  rise  of  our  Rio  Grande  begins  at  the  very  time  when 
irrigation  becomes  necessary — immediately  when  ready  for  the  plough  and 
the  seed.  It  continues  during  June  and  July,  and  usually  lasts  long 
enough  to  tie  on  to  the  rainy  season  of  July  and  August. 

The  system  of  ditches  is  at  present  badly  planned  and  very  inade- 
quate for  the  purpose  intended.  The  acequia  madre  which  supplies  Paso 
del  Norte  with  water,  is  about  as  good  a  specimen  of  an  irrigating  ditch, 
planned  and  executed  by  Mexican  labor  only,  as  we  can  find  in  the  valley. 
There  is  at  present  scarcely  any  systematic  attempt  along  the  whole 
course  of  the  river,  from  the  northern  boundary  of  New  Mexico  down  to 
where  the  canon  country  below  the  mouth  of  the  Concho  River  com- 
mences, to  construct  suitable  dams  below  the  points  where  it  is  intended 
to  take  out  acequias,  and  thus  obtain  a  full  head  and  a  constant  supply 
of  water  at  a  comparatively  trifling  expense.  All  these  points  will  come 
to  be  better  understood  and  executed  after  a  while,  when  a  pushing  and 
energetic  American  population  occupies  the  valley  and  converts  its  fertile 
but  now  unused  lands  into  vineyards  and  orchards. 

The  construction  of  a  great  irrigating  canal,  such  as  is  in  contempla- 
tion at  the  present  time,  demands  naturally  a  large  outlay  of  labor  and 
material.  To  repay  this  outlay,  all  the  waters  so  taken  out  must  be  used 
to  advantage,  and  large  tracts  of  land  must  thus  become  dependent  upon 
the  one  great  canal.  No  single  farmer,  and  no  single  neighborhood,  can 
undertake  such  a  task. 

THE   CANAL. 

This  canal  once  constructed,  every  acre  within  the  valley  will  become 
a  vineyard,  an  orchard,  or  a  meadow.  All  the  idle  water  which  flows 
wastefully  to  the  Gulf,  will  be  made  to  yield  the  greater  part  of  its  wealth 
of  plant  food  which  it  holds  in  suspension,  and  we  will  no  longer  witness 
this  great  volume  of  water  running  past  our  doors  while  our  ditches  are 
dry,  when  they  should  be  full  to  overflowing. 

The  flow  of  water  in  the  Rio  Grande  is  ample  for  the  needs  of  the 
valley.  The  opportunity  is  here  offered  to  the  capitalist  to  make  a  profit- 
able investment  in  an  enterprise  which  will  give  a  richer  return  than  can 
be  found  elsewhere  in  this  country.  The  cost  of  a  canal  a  distance  of 
fifty  miles  has  been  estimated  to  be  approximately  $250,000.  There 
would  be  tributary  to  such  a  canal  some  150,000  acres  of  valley  land, 
ready  for  cultivation  as  soon  as  water  can  be  obtained.  Every  acre  of  this 
land  would  then  contribute  to  the  canal  company  a  yearly  stipend  of  say 
one  dollar  per  acre  for  water  privileges,  which  would  insure  to  the  investors 
a  net  income  of  about  $100,000  per  annum.  These  facts  and  figures 


IRRIGATION.  15 


can  be  verified  by  personal  investigation.  Capital  is  now,  for  the  first 
time  in  years,  beginning  to  look  to  the  Southwest,  and  with  restored 
confidence  and  abundant  crops  there  is  no  point  in  the  West  which  will 
command  that  attention  which  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  will  command 
in  the  near  future. 

STATISTICAL   AND    SCIENTIFIC. 

If  the  reader  is  not  deterred  by  a  few  dry  facts  and  prosaic  figures, 
he  will  find  it  profitable  to  follow  me  with  due  patience  a  little  while  longer. 

In  a  general  way,  the  limit  of  agriculture,  without  irrigation,  is  indi- 
cated by  the  curve  of  20  inches  rainfall,  and  where  the  rainfall  is  equally 
distributed  throughout  the  year,  this  limitation  is  without  exception.  But 
in  certain  districts  the  rainfall  is  concentrated  in  certain  months,  so  as  to 
produce  a  "rainy  season,"  and  whereever  the  temperature  of  the  rainy 
season  is  adapted  to  the  raising  of  crops,  it  is  found  that  farming  can  be 
carried  on  with  even  a  little  less  than  20  inches  of  annual  rain.  This, 
however,  holds  good  only  in  certain  portions  of  the  United  States. 
Nowhere  in  Texas  are  20  inches  of  rain  sufficient  for  agriculture,  while 
in  Dakota  and  Minnesota  a  much  less  amount  is  sufficient. 

The  annual  rainfall  in  El  Paso,  as  ascertained  by  a  series  of  observa- 
tions for  a  number  of  years  (over  twenty),  has  been  found  to  be  8.53 
inches.  This  precipitation  is  distributed  generally  in  the  following  ratio : 
Spring,  0.43  inches  ;  summer,  3.49  inches  :  fall,  3.38  inches  ;  winter, 
1.23  inches.  Thus  at  a  glance  will  be  seen  the  utter  hopelessness  of 
carrying  on  agriculture  of  any  kind  in  this  section  of  country  without 
artificial  irrigation. 

In  comparison  with  the  8.53  inches  of  annual  rainfall  at  El  Paso,  we 
find  31.30  inches  at  San  Antonio,  27.58  at  New  Braunfels,  33.52  at 
Austin,  and  22.61  inches  even  at  Fort  Clark.  At  all  of  these  places 
udry  farming"  can  be  carried  on,  and  ordinarily  with  profit  and  a 
reasonable  share  of  certainty.  But  there  will  be  occasional  droughts  or 
cloud-bursts,  and  sometimes  a  whole  season's  hard  labor  is  lost  to  the 
patient  husbandman,  without  a  particle  of  fault  on  his  part.  But  how  <loes 
the  farmer,  gardener  and  orchardist  stand  in  districts  depending  upon 
irrigation  ? 

ADVANTAGES   OF   IRRIGATION. 

Crops  cultivated  by  irrigation  are  not  subject  to  the  vicissitudes  of 
rainfall.  The  farmer  fears  no  droughts ;  his  labors  are  seldom  interrupted, 
and  his  crops  are  rarely  injured  by  storms.  The  immunity  from  drought 
and  storms  renders  agricultural  operations  much  more  certain  and  profit- 
able than  in  regions  of  greater  humidity.  Again,  the  water  comes  down 


16  IRRIGATION. 


from  the  mountains  and  plateaus  freighted  with  fertilizing  materials 
derived  from  decaying  vegetation  and  the  soils  of  the  upper  regions,  which 
are  spread  by  the  water  used  in  irrigation  over  the  cultivated  lands. 

It  may  safely  be  anticipated  that  all  the  lands  redeemed  by  irriga- 
tion in  the  Rio  Grande  valley,  will  be  highly  cultivated  and  abundantly 
productive,  and  agriculture  will  be  but  slightly  subject  to  the  vicissitudes 
of  scant  and  excessive  rainfall.  A  stranger  entering  this  region  for  the 
first  time  is  apt  to  conclude  that  the  soil  is  sterile,  because  of  its  chemical 
composition,  but  experience  demonstrates  the  fact  that  all  the  soils  are 
suitable  for  agricultural  purposes  when  properly  supplied  with  water. 
Altogether  the  fact  suggests  that  far  too  much  attention  has  heretofore 
been  paid  to  the  chemical  composition  of  soils,  and  too  little  to  those 
physical  conditions  by  which  moisture  and  air  are  supplied  to  the  roots 
of  the  growing  plants. 

PRACTICAL   AND   THEORETICAL   DETAILS. 

The  unit  of  wrater  employed  in  irrigating  enterprises  in  the  West  is 
usually  the  inch, — meaning  thereby  the  amount  of  water  that  will  flow 
through  an  orifice  one  inch  square.  But  in  practice  this  quantity  is  very 
indefinite,  due  to  the  "head,"  or  amount  of  pressure  from  above;  in  some 
districts  this  latter  is  taken  at  six  inches.  Another  source  of  uncertainty 
exists  in  the  fact  that  increase  in  the  size  of  the  orifice  and  increase  in  the 
amount  of  flow  do  not  progress  in  the  same  ratio.  An  orifice  of  one 
square  inch  will  not  admit  of  a  discharge  one-tenth  as  great  as  an  orifice 
of  ten  square  inches.  An  inch  of  water,  therefore,  is  variable  with  the  size 
of  the  stream  as  well  as  with  the  head  or  pressure.  With  the  influx  of 
Americans  into  the  Rio  Grande  Valley,  it  will  become  necessary  to  adopt 
a  more  definite  mode  of  measuring  irrigating  water.  In  measuring  the 
volume  of  water  which  is  carried  down  by  a  stream,  it  is  usual  to  state  the 
number  of  cubic  feet  which  the  stream  will  deliver  per  second. 

This  matter — ascertaining  the  amount  of  water  flowing  down  the  Rio 
Grande  at  different  seasons  of  the  year — is  one  of  exceeding  importance  in 
estimating  the  agricultural  capacities  of  the  valley,  and  it  is  unfortunate 
that  the  task  has  never  been  performed  in  a  thorough  and  systematic 
manner.  Some  very  valuable  estimates  of  the  volume  of  water  in  the  river 
were  made  some  thirty  years  ago,  when  the  first  official  boundary  line 
between  the  two  republics  was  run  by  Emory ;  but  as  they  were  made  at 
only  one  particular  stage  of  the  river,  and  did  not  extend  over  the  full 
period  of  the  year,  their  value  in  an  investigation  of  this  subject  is  only 
accidental.  Then  again  at  Del  Norte,  not  far  from  the  headwaters  of  the 


IRRIGATION.  17 


river,  observations  were  made  by  the  Powell  Geological  Survey  which 
were  more  systematically  conducted,  and  extended  over  the  different 
seasons  of  the  year,  thus  making  them  of  some  practical  utility  for  the 
agriculture  of  Colorado.  But  the  case  is  so  entirely  altered  away  down 
at  El  Paso,  that  we  have  practically  no  accurate  observations  to  guide  us 
in  our  examination  here.  This  is  greatly  to  be  regretted ;  without  these 
data  we  can  only  approximately  deal  with  the  irrigation  problem^ 

In  determining  the  amount  of  water  carried  by  any  particular 
stream  which  can  be  utilized  for  irrigating  purposes,  Powell  has  already 
pointed  out  that  this  quantity  is  variable  in  each  stream  from  season  to 
season  and  from  year  to  year.  He  long  ago  pointed  out  that  the 
irrigable  season  is  but  a  portion  of  the  year.  To  utilize  the  entire 
annual  discharge  of  a  river,  it  would  be  necessary  to  hold  the  surplus 
flowing  in  the  non-growing  season,  in  large  reservoirs.  But  as  such  a 
disposition  of  the  waters  of  the  Rio  Grande  will  be  a  matter  of  the 
undetermined  future,  the  question  of  immediate  practical  importance  is 
resolved  into  a  consideration  of  the  amount  of  water  that  it  will  afford 
during  the  irrigating  season. 

In  May,  June  and  July  the  volume  of  water  in  the  river  near  El 
Paso  will  average  three  hundred  feet  in  width  and  five  in  depth,  with  a 
velocity  of  five  miles  an  hour ;  in  August,  September  and  October  it  will 
average  one  hundred  feet  in  width  and  two  and  a  half  to  three  feet  in 
depth,  with  a  velocity  of  two  and  a  half  miles  per  hour.  When  con- 
sidered that  by  the  end  of  July  the  requirements  of  irrigation  for  fruits  is 
over,  there  will  then  be  more  than  a  sufficiency  for  the  late  vegetable  and 
alfalfa  crops. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  composition  of  the  soil  throughout 
the  Rio  Grande  Valley  is  such  that  the  subsoil  will  hold  water  for  weeks 
and  even  months,  and  gradually  yields  the  absorbed  moisture  to  the  over- 
lying soil  by  slow  upward  percolation,  or  capillary  attraction,  during  the 
season  when  the  growing  crops  require  its  fertilizing  effects. 

The  foregoing  remarks  are  necessarily  of  a  merely  desultory  char- 
acter. The  subject  of  irrigation  is  among  Americans  a  comparatively 
new  one,  and  no  great  stock  of  reliable  information  can  be  presented. 

EL  PASO. 

Any  one  can  see  by  what  is  commonly  called  "a  glance  at  the  map  " 
that  nature  made  EL  PASO  a  pivotal  point  on  the  Continent,  and  it  was 
very  kind  of  nature  to  do  so,  as  man  has  done  but  little.  There  are  six 
or  seven  thousand  people  there,  revelling  in  the  luxury  of  a  real  estate 


18  IRRIGATION. 


"boom,"  without  any  local  resources  to  support  it.  They  import  every- 
thing, and  export  next  to  nothing ;  and  there  is  scarcely  an  enterprise 
which  can  be  said  to  rise  to  the  dignity  of  an  industrial  pursuit  except 
the  ancient  game  of  PHARAOH. 

CLIMATE  affords  a  remarkably  thin  diet  at  an  altitude  of  4,000  feet. 

The  people  on  the  Eio  Grande  have  no  money  to  invest  in  any  • 
kind  of  enterprise.  They  are  miserably  poor.  The  people  of  EL  PASO — 
living  in  a  bake  oven  of  sand,  with  a  public  plaza  in  a  state  of  neglect 
which  would  disgrace  an  Indian  village,  without  any  visible  means  of 
support — strut  about  with  the  pomposity  of  peacocks,  eliminating  gas 
about  the  grandeur  of  the  city. 

VINEYARDS. 

The  arable  land  of  this  valley,  is,  as  we  have  shown,  admirably  ad- 
apted to  agriculture,  but  most  perfectly  to  the  grape.  Those  experienced 
in  the  cultivation  of  the  vine,  report  that  all  the  conditions  of  the  soil- 
humidity  and  temperature — are  united  here  to  produce  the  grape  in  the 
greatest  perfection.  The  soil,  composed  or  disintegrated  matter  of  the 
older  rocks  and  volcanic  ashes,  is  light,  porous  and  rich.  The  frosts 
in  the  winter  are  just  sufficiently  severe  to  destroy  the  insects  without 
injuring  the  plant,  and  the  rain  seldom  falls  in  its  season  when  the  plant 
is  flowering,  or  when  the  fruit  is  coming  into  maturity  and  liable  to  rot 
from  exposure  to  humidity.  As  a  consequence  of  these  conditions,  the 
fruit,  when  ripe,  has  a  thin  skin,  scarcely  any  pulp,  and  is  devoid  of  the 
musky  taste  so  frequent  with  American  grapes.  Yearly  new  vineyards 
are  coming  into  bearing,  counting  their  vines  by  the  thousand,  while  the 
production  of  wine  is  becoming  annually  more  and  more  an  article  of  com- 
merce and  profit.  Here  may  be  found,  and  often  in  great  perfection, 
both  the  light  white  and  red  wines  of  the  Rhine  and  Bordeaux,  and  the 
heavier  Burgundy,  port,  sherry,  and,  with  sufficient  age,  even  a  good 
Madeira,  with  a  grape  acclimatised  by  two  hundred  years  of  cultivation, 
unexcelled  for  richness  and  lusciousness  of  flavor,  always  free  from  blight 
and  disease  of  every  kind,  so  destructive  to  European  vineyards,  so  fatal 
to  wine  growing  on  the  Atlantic  slope,  and  often  so  damaging  even  to 
California.  With  a  soil  and  water  as  rich  as  that  of  the  Nile,  with  an 
abundance  of  water  for  irrigation,  and  with  sunny  days  and  dewless  nights, 
increasing  in  strength  as  the  summer  heats  increase,  the  wines  of  the  Rio 
Grande  Valley  promise  to  become  as  varied  and  as  excellent  as  those  of 
Erance,  Spain  or  Italy. 


IRRIGATION.  19 


DRIED    GRAPES. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  this  valley  will  become  at  no 
remote  day  a  famous  raisin  district,  perhaps  more  so  than  any  on  this 
continent.  The  soil  and  climate  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  one  of  the  best 
varieties  of  raisin  grapes  in  the  world.  It  is  well  known  that  raisins,  to 
possess  lasting  qualities  and  best  flavor,  must  be  dried  in  the  sunshine, 
then  passed  through  the  sweating  process,  and  packed.  And  there  is, 
perhaps,  no  place  in  America  where  the  climate  will  so  certainly  and 
readily  admit  of  this  process  as  here ;  because  at  the  period  of  closing 
the  labors  of  the  vineyard,  the  atmosphere  is  perfectly  dry  and  clear,  with 
scarcely  a  cloud  upon  the  horizon  for  months.  The  best  raisin  in  the 
world  is  made  from  the  Muscat  grape,  and  is  cured  and  packed  in  just 
such  an  atmosphere  as  this.  Our  grape,  and  the  raisin  industry  that  will 
certainly  grow  out  of  it,  should  attract  the  attention  of  those  skilled  in 
this  art. 

COST  OF  A  VINEYARD. 

The  Rio  Grande  Valley  offers  great  inducements  to  all  who  are  con- 
templating a  change  of  residence  from  the  Northern,  Middle  or  Eastern 
states  to  a  more  congenial  climate,  with  the  intention  of  engaging  in  wine 
and  fruit  growing.  As  all  such  will  doubtless  wish  to  know  something  of 
the  cost  of  planting  and  taking  care  of  a  vineyard  until  it  comes  into  bear- 
ing, the  following  fairly  accurate  table  of  expense  from  the  planting  to  the 
third  year,  when  the  vines  will  yield  their  first  paying  crop,  will  prove  of 
interest. 

Take  20  acres  as  a  basis  from  which  to  calculate,  for  that  amount  of 
land  is  about  all  one  man  can  attend  to  properly,  and  if  he  does  the  labor 
alone,  which  he  can  well  do,  the  cost  will  be  merely  nominal  outside  of  the 
cost  of  the  land  cuttings. 

The  income  of  a  twenty  acre  vineyard  when  in  full  bearing  will  be 
sufficient  to  support  a  family  comfortably. 

FIRST  YEAR. 

Cost  of  land  (20  acres)  with  water  right $500.00 

Plowing  and  harrowing  $2.50  per  acre 50.00 

17,000  cuttings  (California),  $5.00  per  m 85.00 

Planting  cuttings,  $3.00  per  acre 60.00 

Irrigating  twice,  $2.00 40.00 

Cultivating  vineyard  four  times  at  $1.00  each      80.00 

Hoeing  twice  at  50  cents 20.00 

First  year's  expenses  total $835.00 


20  IRRIGATION. 


SECOND  YEAR. 

Pruning  $1.00  per  acre $20.00 

Irrigating  twice  $2.00 40.00 

Plowing  vineyard  twice  $3.00 60.00 

Cultivating  twice  $1.25 25.00 

Hoeing  twice  at  50  cents 20.00 

Second  year's  expenses  total $165.00 


THIRD    YEAR. 

Pruning  $1.00  per  acre $20.00 

Irrigating  twice  $2.00 40.00 

Plowing  twice  $3.00 60.00 

Cultivating  twice  $1.25 25.00 

Hoeing  and  suckering  twice 20.00 

$165.00 
SUMMARY. 

Cost  first  year $835.00 

Cost  second  year 165.00 

Cost  third  year 165.00 


Total $1,165.00 

The  third  year  the  vineyard  will  produce  at  least  two  tons  of  grapes 
to  the  acre,  or  80,000  pounds  from  the  20  acres,  which  are  worth  2 
cents  per  pound.  (El  Paso  shippers  paid  3  and  4  cents  per  pound  last 
season.)  This  is  a  moderate  estimate  both  as  to  quantity  of  grapes  that 
a  well  taken  care  of  20  acre  vineyard  will  produce  the  third  year  and  the 
price  that  can  be  obtained  from  the  shipper.  For  a  number  of  years  the 
vineyard  will  increase  in  quantity  of  grapes  each  year,  till  it  reaches  5  to 
8  tons  to  the  acre. 

A  bearing  vineyard  three  years  to  five  years  old  on  good  land  will  be 
worth,  and  would  sell  for,  from  $300.00  to  $500.00  per  acre.  It  is  a 
profitable  business  to  plant  a  vineyard,  and  it  is  an  industry  that  can  never 
be  overdone  in  this  valley. 

It  was  the  first  labor  which  Noah  and  his  sons  engaged  in  when  they 
came  out  of  the  ARK. 

AGRICULTURE  AND  HORTICULTURE. 

The  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande,  (latitude  28°  to  34°  N.),  affords 
all  the  requisites,  and  therefore  is  well  adapted  to  the  delightful  and  profit- 
able pursuits  of  the  agriculturist  and  horticulturist.  Indeed,  it  has  become 
a  fact  abundantly  and  perfectly  demonstrated. 


IRRIGATION.  21 


To  attain  great  perfection,  and  to  achieve  the  most  considerable 
degree  of  success  in  these  pursuits,  favorable  conditions  of  both  soil  and 
climate  must  be  found.  We  claim  that  those  conditions  exist  here  to  as 
great,  if  not  greater,  degree  than  can  be  found  elsewhere  on  this  continent. 
Nearly  all  the  products  of  the  temperate  zone  can  be  produced  here  in 
abundance  and  perfection.  The  cereals,  wheat,  corn,  oats,  barley,  rye, 
etc.,  yield  as  much  per  acre,  and  of  as  good  quality,  as  in  any  part  of  the 
United  States. 

The  grasses — alfalfa,  millet,  timothy,  bermuda,  and  all  others  which 
have  been  thus  far  introduced,  do  well.  The  Smyrna  millets,  grown  here 
for  the  first  time  last  year  as  a  test,  in  small  quantity,  and  under  the  most 
favored  conditions,  attained  a  growth,  in  two  cuttings,  of  ten  feet.  It  is 
estimated  that  it  will  yield  from  three  to  four  tons  per  acre.  This  is  a 
perennial  of  vigorous  root  and  growth,  spreads  rapidly,  runs  deep,  and  is, 
therefore,  well  adapted  to  our  soil. 

Alfalfa  does  remarkably  well.  May  be  cut  from  three  to  four  times 
each  season,  aggregating  four  or  six  tons  per  acre,  and  two  to  four  feet 
in  height.  This  is  also  a  perennial,  with  a  vigorous  growth  of  root,  penetrat- 
ing to  as  great  a  depth  as  thirteen  feet,  showing  great  adaptability  to  a  dry 
climate.  From  present  appearances,  it  would  seem  that  this  isdestined  to 
be  the  staple  grass  crop  of  the  valley.  It  is  very  productive,  hardy  and 
tenacious  of  life,  the  best  of  food  for  cattle,  horses,  hogs  and  chickens,  and 
has  already  become  quite  an  important  and  remunerative  industry. 

Bermuda  grass,  wherever  planted,  indicates  its  love  for  this  soil  and 
its  determination  to  stay.  Its  myriad  rootlets  permeate  the  soil  and 
form  an  almost  impenetrable  sward.  It  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  lawns, 
parks,  etc.,  and  fills  exactly  that  much-needed  and  desirable  quality  here. 

Vegetables  of  nearly  every  known  class  and  variety,  and  especially 
all  those  that  are  grown  on  vines,  such  as  the  melon,  squash,  pumpkin, 
etc.,  do  as  well  here,  in  all  respects,  as  in  any  part  of  the  United  States. 
The  Rio  Grande  onion  is  already  justly  famous  above  all  others. 

Under  the  head  of  POMOLOGY,  it  may  be  said  that  this  soil  and 
climate  are  perfectly  adapted  to  the  growth  of  apples,  pears,  peaches, 
plums,  apricots,  grapes,  quinces,  nectarines,  almonds,  pecans,  prunes  and 
many  others,  such  as  strawberries,  raspberries,  gooseberries,  too  numerous 
to  mention.  All  of  these  have  been  thoroughly  tested  ;  in  fact,  it  is  no 
longer  a  matter  of  experiment  with  any  of  them.  They  can  be  produced 
in  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  in  abundance  and  perfection. 

While  adapted  to  the  growth  of  all  kinds  of  grapes,  the  old  "  Mission 
grape,"  of  dark  purple  hue,  widely  known  now  under  the  name  of  the  "  El 


22  IRRIGATION. 


Paso  grape,"  is  grown  here  in  great  perfection,  and  is  a  very  superior 
grape  for  the  table  and  for  the  manufacture  of  wine,  brandy  and  raisins. 
An  acre  with  one  thousand  good  vines  is  worth  $1,000.  A  large  quan- 
tity of  these  grapes  (some  10,000  baskets),  will  be  shipped  this  year  to 
Eastern  markets,  yielding  no  doubt  a  satisfactory  remuneration. 

The  superiority  of  soil  and  climate  for  the  growth  of  fruit  is  further 
shown  by  the  fact  that  trees  of  the  staple  fruits,  such  as  apples,  pears  and 
peaches,  set  out  only  two  years  since,  are  now  bearing. 

Flowers  and  shrubs  of  all  kinds  find  here  a  natural  and  congenial 
home.  The  alkaline  soils  can  be  utilized  by  growing  any  of  the  great 
varieties  of  the  sugar  beet,  to  which  these  soils  seem  singularly  adapted. 
The  cabbage  and  onion  also  thrive  just  as  well  in  such  soils;  and  in  a  few 
years  of  such  cultivation,  especially  if  manure  is  used,  the  alkali  will  be 
absorbed,  and  the  land  found  suitable  to  the  growth  of  anything  grown 
elsewhere  in  the  valley. 

Small  farms  for  the  individual  are  preferable  to  large  ones,  unless 
there  be  a  community  of  interest  in  all  the  people  of  a  settlement.  The 
land  can  be  doubly  cropped  each  year,  so  that  one  acre  here  answers  as 
well  as  two  elsewhere.  Every  acre  can  and  should  be  made  a  perfect 
garden. 

INDIVIDUAL  INDUSTRY. 

Individual  industry  can  avail  nothing  in  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
A  man  with  his  family  may  starve  to  death  without  water  for  irrigation. 
"Paul  may  plant,  and  Apollus  may  water;  but  God  gives  the  increase." 

The  American's  God  MONEY  must  be  spent  on  the  Rio  Grande  in 
great  abundance  before  there  can  be  any  revenue. 


WHEAT   AND   CORN. 

If  only  one-fourteenth  part  of  the  territory  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico 
were  used  for  the  raising  of  wheat  and  corn,  the  annual  yield  would  be 
about  110,000,000  bushels  of  wheat  and  400,000,000  bushels  of  corn 
every  year ;  and  this  immense  yield  would  all  be  available  for  foreign 
markets,  as  the  outlying  lands  have  always  raised  enough  for  home 
consumption.  Besides,  the  Mexicans  are  from  choice  a  corn-eating  people. 
Seven-eighths  of  the  population  live  on  tortillas  (hoecakes). 

Nevertheless,  the  tillage  is  all  done  with  tools  as  ancient  as  Abraham 
—  wooden  sticks,  the  crotches  of  trees  shod  with  iron.  Yet,  an  investiga- 
tion of  yield  and  quality  makes  one  wonder  ! 


IRRIGATION. 


THE    MAGUEY. 

Besides  these  staple  crops,  a  glance  at  some  of  the  uncommon 
products  of  Mexico  may  not  be  uninteresting.  Nobody  can  have  much 
of  an  opinion  of  the  cactus  family  as  a  thing  of  beauty  or  as  a  source  of 
wealth.  In  some  parts  of  Mexico  the  cacti  assume  gigantic  proportions 
and  grotesque  forms.  One  member  of  the  family  is  essential  in  daily  life. 
The  agave,  aloe,  maguey,  or  century  plant,  exists  in  some  thirty  varieties 
and  has  more  products  than  any  other  vegetable.  It  produces  in  enor- 
mous quantities  pulque,  the  national  beverage.  250,000  pints  of  this 
are  consumed  daily  in  the  city  of  Mexico  alone.  Each  plant  produces 
about  125  quarts  of  this  juice,  after  which  it  dies.  In  other  localities  no 
juice  or  pulque  is  drawn  from  the  plant,  because  its  special  virtues  enable 
it  to  produce  the  brandy  known  as  "Tequila,"  from  the  locality  on  the 
Mexican  Central  where  the  best  is  produced.  The  mode  of  making  this 
is  as  old  as  the  Aztec  civilization.  After  the  pulque  has  been  extracted 
the  plant  still  possesses  its  greatest  value.  It  can  be  made  to  yield  an 
excellent  quality  of  molasses,  superior  to  that  yielded  by  the  sugar  cane. 
Still,  the  most  valuable  product  is  the  fibre  yielded  by  the  leaves,  equal 
to  the  best  jute.  Where  soil  and  locality  do  not  admit  of  this  use  of  the 
plant,  it  yields  a  pulp  unequaled  for  making  paper,  cordage,  matting,  etc. 

THE   RAMIE   PLANT. 

India  is  the  original  home  of  this  plant,  to  which  the  climate  and  soil 
of  the  Rio  Grande  are  especially  favorable,  though  it  will  grow  wherever 
cotton  will.  Once  planted,  it  is  perennial  for  many  years,  and  requires 
little  cultivation  or  attention.  It  is  not  subject  to  destruction  by  worms 
and  insects,  and  is  cut  four  times  a  year.  The  fibre  is  stronger  and  finer 
than  flax  or  cotton  and  is  considered  for  most  purposes  equal  to  silk. 
Each  cutting  yields  as  many  pounds  per  acre  as  cotton  does. 

The  India  ramie,  bleached,  combed  and  made  ready  for  the  spinners, 
brings  in  England  about  fifty  cents  per  pound.  This  product  must  bear 
a  prominent  part  in  the  commercial  future  of  the  Rio  Grande. 

THE    CASTOR   BEAN 

grows  spontaneously  and  abundantly  along  the  coast  regions,  though 
these  are  not  the  most  favorable  localities  for  its  profitable  cultivation. 
The  plant  yields  the  first  year,  and  for  about  six  months  of  the  year, 
and  the  same  plant  lives  and  bears  for  about  ten  years,  when  it  requires 
replanting.  An  acre  of  trees  yields  about  3,600  pounds  of  beans,  or 
1,800  pounds  of  oil. 


24  IRRIGATION, 


TOBACCO. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  Mexico  has  been  for  many  years  a 
producer  of  tobacco  of  flavor  which  compares  favorably  with  the  best 
Havana.  It  must  soon  become  an  article  of  considerable  value  as  an 
export,  as,  under  the  present  condition  of  things,  tobacco  is  produced  in 
twenty-two  of  the  twenty-eight  States,  and  produces,  as  an  export,  more 
than  $2,000,000  annually. 

SUGAR. 

The  plant,  once  made,  stands  from  ten  to  thirty  years.  It  is  under 
inefficient  cultivation,  but  yields  one-third  to  one-half  more  per  acre  than 
the  island  of  Cuba.  Nearly  all  the  Mexican  States  produce  it  in  greater 
or  less  quantity,  and  yet  the  present  supply  is  inadequate  to  the 
enormous  local  consumption,  and  sugar  brings  a  higher  price  than  in 
the  United  States. 

COFFEE. 

In  some  localities  the  coffee  plant  demonstrates  its  adaptability  to 
the  climate  by  growing  wild.  Its  best  locality  is  about  3,500  feet  above 
the  sea,  which  indicates  a  wide  range  of  territory.  At  that  elevation  it 
yields  about  three  pounds  to  the  plant.  The  elevation  of  the  Rio  Grande 
Valley  is  about  4,000  feet  and  the  climate  similar  to  Arabia,  where 
Mocha  coffee  grows. 

Mr.  Foster,  late  Minister  to  Mexico,  stated  in  one  of  his  reports 
that  its  quality  was  equal  to  the  best  known  in  any  country,  and  that 
Mexico  possessed  in  her  coffee  a  far  greater  wealth  than  in  her  silver. 

It  is  reliably  stated  that  there  are  coffee  plantations  in  Mexico  that 
have  annually  borne  for  three-quarters  of  a  century,  without  replanting. 

In  1882  the  amount  paid  by  us  for  coffee  was  a  little  more  than 
$46,000,000,  of  which  nearly  $30,000,000  went  to  Brazil. 

COTTON. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  of  the  products  of  Mexico,  and  was 
raised,  spun,  woven  and  dyed  in  brilliant  colors  by  the  Aztecs.  Like  all 
other  products  of  this  favored  clime  the  production  bears  no  relation  to 
the  capacity  of  the  country. 

The  average  yield  per  acre  is  about  fifteen  per  cent,  more  than  in 
the  United  States.  The  cotton  consumption  is  so  prominent  a  factor  in 
the  calculations  of  the  world's  trade  that  it  is  useless  to  present  again 
here  familiar  figures.  It  grows  luxuriantly  on  the  Rio  Grande. 


IRRIGATION.  25 


TROPICAL   FRUITS. 

These  grow  here  in  immense  profusion  and  variety.  Oranges, 
limes  and  bananas  are  standard  articles  of  consumption  and  trade, 
and  the  construction  of  railways  renders  their  limitless  supply  an 
important  item.  Several  kinds  of  refrigerating  cars  are  an  undoubted 
success.  The  fruit  trade  from  California,  in  varieties  which  are  mostly 
produced  in  all  the  States,  is  enormous.  There  is,  in  the  near  future, 
an  immense  development  in  the  tropical  fruit  business  ;  fresher,  cheaper, 
of  greater  variety  and  better  quality,  than  we  have  ever  been  accus- 
tomed to.  In  the  West  Indies  there  is  nearly  a  level  surface  of  land. 
The  crop  per  annum  is  a  single  one.  In  Mexico,  one  district  has 
ripening  fruit  at  one  season  of  the  year  and  another  district  later  or 
earlier.  Around  the  city  of  Mexico,  in  addition  to  a  list  of  tropical 
fruits  whose  names,  variety  and  deliciousness  are  a  revelation  to  the 
stranger,  strawberries,  new  potatoes  and  green  corn  may  be  had  even7 
month  of  the  year. 

GRAZING. 

The  millions  of  acres  of  nutritious  grasses,  embracing  a  large  part 
of  Northern  Mexico,  extending  north-east  to  the  Rio  Grande,  are 
attracting  the  attention  of  foreign  cattle-raisers,  and  already  steps  are 
being  taken  for  the  utilization  of  this  vast  grazing  ground. 

The  recent  Act  of  Congress,  prohibiting  aliens  from  holding  lands 
or  mines  in  the  Western  Territories,  has  brought  the  influx  of  foreign 
capital  to  a  sudden  stop ;  and  it  must,  perforce,  overflow  into  Mexico. 
Moreover,  lands  and  mines  are  held  by  a  safer  tenure  than  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  protection  of  the  government  is  infinitely 
superior.  Agrarians,  Anarchists  and  Squatters  are  summarily  shot, 
and  a  land-owner  in  Mexico  is  lord  of  the  soil 

The  recent  legislation  by  the  Mexican  republic  favorable  to  the  United 
States  and  foreign  investments  is  of  the  greatest  importance  in  mining 
circles.  It  must  be  remembered  that  in  this  marvelously  rich  mineral 
district  are  mines  wliich  have  already  produced,  according  to  the  records, 
as  proven  by  their  system  of  taxation  upon  all  mines,  fabulous  amounts 
of  gold  and  silver.  One,  the  Valemciana,  at  Guanajuato,  has  yielded 
$1,500,000,000.  At  Zacatecas  are  others  of  extraordinary  value,  and  at 
this  place  an  English  syndicate  has  recently  purchased  properties  for 
which  millions  were  the  purchase  price.  Capitalists  from  eastern  cities 
have  eagerly  sought  for  investments,  and  Chicago  always  to  the  front 
when  great  opportunities  are  presented,  should  not  lag  behind  now. 


26  IRRIGATION. 


TRANSLATION. 

In  the  year  1715  a  resident  of  Calaya  commenced  work  on  a  virgin 
gold  mine  in  the  old  mineral  district  of  "  San  Juan  de  la  Chica,"  naming 
the  place  he  developed  Los  Margaros.  The  mine  was  Subsequently  sold 
to  Don  Gerracio  Prado,  a  farmer  living  in  the  vicinity.  At  his  death  in 
the  year  1809  the  mine  was  producing  three  ounces  of  gold  to  the  cargo 
of  250  pounds.  Owing  to  the  imperfect  method  of  working — Don  Ger- 
racio being  a  farmer  and  not  a  miner — the  mine  caved  in  and  was  aban- 
doned until  1830,  when  Don  Dario,  a  brother  of  the  former  owner, 
attempted  to  recover  the  lost  shaft,  but  a  lack  of  funds  prevented.  For 
fifty-seven  years  the  mine  was  undisturbed.  Don  Luis  Prado,  a  nephew 
of  Don  Gerracio,  was  well  informed  of  the  place  which  had  been  worked, 
but  would  not  reveal  it  because  his  price  was  too  great  for  the  secret  of  the 
lost  mine.  This  tradition  was  the  basis  on  which  the  subsequent  owners 
went  to  work  to  discover  the  mine  which  in  former  years  was  known  to  be 
so  fabulously  rich  in  gold.  In  May,  1883,  they  located  this  same  mine  and 
commenced  the  work  of  development.  They  succeeded  in  finding  the  old 
shaft  indicated  by  notched  sticks  and  primitive  tools  with  which  the  former 
owners  worked.  These  parties  have  endeavored  to  develop  the  property 
sufficiently  to  induce  capital  to  join  the  enterprise.  In  May,  1887,  a 
representative  of  the  "San  Juan  de  la  Chica"  visited  Chicago  and  interested 
a  syndicate  to  examine  the  mine.  Mr.  H.  V.  Reed  was  selected  of 
the  number  to  go  to  Mexico  and  report. 

WHAT    HE   FOUND. 

The  main  body  of  ore  was  full  ninety  feet  in  width  between  walls, 
and  at  a  depth  of  seventy-five  feet  the  ore  assayed  from  $7  to  $180  in 
gold,  besides  silver.  An  average  assay,  inch  by  inch,  for  fourteen  feet 
went  $39  in  gold  and  $16  in  silver.  On  the  above  showing  the  mine 
was  purchased  and  a  company  organized  in  Chicago.  Since  its  purchase 
the  company  have  vigorously  prosecuted  the  work,  and  an  able  attorney, 
together  with  a  competent  engineer,  has  been  sent  to  perfect  titles  and  to 
prepare  the  way  for  extensive  machinery.  At  a  depth  of  125  feet  they 
find  from  assays  made  at  the  state  department  in  Guanajuato  the  average 
value  to  be  in  gold  $66  and  in  silver  $12  per  ton. 

BUILDING   MATERIAL. 

Brick.— At  the  writing  (1887),  brick  are  selling  at  a  lower  figure 
than  in  any  other  important  point  hi  the  United  States.  Good  building 
brick  which  are  quoted  in  Chicago  at  $9  per  1,000  are  selling  here  for 


IRRIGATION.  27 


$8  delivered  on  the  ground.  The  best  pressed  brick  bring  $20  per  1,000, 
which  is  about  one-half  the  cost  of  the  same  material  in  any  of  the 
Northern  or  Eastern  cities.  Brick  were  first  manufactured  in  El  Paso  in 
1881,  2,000,000  being  made  in  that  year.  This  number  was  increased 
to  10,000,000  in  1886. 

Lumber. — Framing  lumber  now  quoted  in  Chicago  at  $29  per  1,000 
feet  is  selling  in  El  Paso  at  $25,  and  finishing  lumber  brings  $50.  Red- 
wood shingles  sell  for  $5,  and  doors,  sashes  and  blinds  are  sold  at  very 
low  figures. 

Stone. — There  are  extensive  stone  quarries  in  Franklin  Mountain, 
and  building  stone  costs  only  $2  per  perch  (16 \  feet)  laid  in  the  wall.  At 
Marfa,  on  the  Southern  Pacific  Railway,  there  is  an  extensive  deposit  of 
a  peculiar  white  stone  which  cuts  easily  in  the  quarries,  but  grows  harder 
and  harder  the  longer  it  is  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  atmosphere.  This 
stone  can  be  brought  to  the  city  at  a  very  small  cost,  and  the  buildings 
constructed  of  this  material  are  fully  as  beautiful  as  they  would  have  been 
if  built  of  marble.  Granite  and  red  sand  stone  are  found  in  abundance, 
and  slate  of  a  superior  quality  has  lately  been  discovered. 

Lime. — There  are  numerous  lime  kilns  in  the  valley,  and  lime  sells 
for  only  40  cents  per  bushel,  which  is  much  cheaper  than  it  can  be  pro- 
cured elsewhere.  Cement  and  other  building  material  are  proportionately 
low  in  price. 

THE   CLIMATE. 

This  climate  cannot  be  excelled  for  its  sanitary  qualities.  The  mer- 
cury has  rarely  been  noted  below  20°  above,  and  then  only  for  a  few 
hours  at  a  time.  Snows  seldom  whiten  the  ground,  and  lie  but  a  few 
hours.  Damp,  chilly  days,  and  hot,  sultry  nights  are  unknown.  The 
heat  of  summer  is  not  oppressive,  and  sunstroke  has  never  been  known. 
The  sky  is  clear  the  year  round.  No  entire  day  has  been  known  when 
the  sun  and  stars  have  not  been  seen.  The  atmosphere  is  unsurpassed 
for  its  dryness  and  purity  ;  full  of  electricity,  it  is  wonderfully  exhilarat- 
ing, and  never  burdened  with  malarious  or  poisonous  exhalations.  Blankets 
or  cover  of  some  kind  are  necessary  on  nights  which  follow  the  hottest 
days,  because  the  nights  are  always  cool,  though  not  damp.  Sleeping 
with  doors  and  windows  open,  or  in  the  open  air,  may  be  practiced  with 
impunity.  The  asthmatic  invalid  or  the  consumptive  may  sit  out  of  doors, 
ride  or  walk  in  the  sunshine  350  days  in  the  year  with  pleasure  and  com- 
fort, and  may  always  enjoy  refreshing  sleep  at  night,  thus  securing  the 
most  essential  conditions  for  the  restoration  of  a  shattered  nervous  system 
and  broken  constitution. 


28  IRRIGATION. 


Free  and  full  breathing  of  pure  air  is  most  important  for  a  sufferer 
from  diseases  of  the  liver  and  lungs.  Make  such  a  person  breathe  and 
he  will  live ;  whatever  makes  him  breathe  faster  makes  his  blood  flow  more 
rapidly,  and  be  better  aerated.  His  appetite  will  increase,  digestion  and 
assimilation  will  respond  to  the  increased  action  of  the  lungs,  which  is 
secured  by  the  elevation  of  this  valley.  Here  one  must  breathe  more 
fully  and  more  rapidly  than  nearer  the  sea  level,  and  its  air  is  as  pure 
as  any  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  A  permanent  increase  of  breathing 
capacity,  caused  by  rarefied  air,  prevents  the  formation  of  tubercles,  and 
often  heals  those  already  formed.  At  this  elevation  (4,006  feet)  this 
increase  is  not  so  great  as  to  be  injurious,  as  is  sometimes  the  case  at 
higher  elevations.  Such  are  some  of  the  conditions  which  give  to  this 
valley  an  extremely  healthy  and  invigorating  climate,  free  from  the 
malaria  of  the  hot,  damp  regions  of  the  river  beds  and  low  lands  of  the 
Southern  States,  and  from  the  mountain  fevers,  colds,  influenzas,  asthmas 
and  consumptions  of  the  higher  ranges  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  cold, 
fog-bound  regions  of  the  Northern  States.  A  more  desirable  climate 
cannot  be  found  the  world  over.  Persons  shut  out  from  the  light  of  the 
sun  are  most  disposed  to  consumption.  For  such,  daily  sunlight  is  every- 
thing. This  country  has  more  sunny  days  than  any  region  of  the  United 
States,  probably  more  than  any  in  the  world,  and  the  invalid,  therefore, 
cannot  but  enjoy  that  benefit,  unless  he  purposely  excludes  himself 
from  it. 

AKTESIAN  WELLS, 

The  problem  of  obtaining  water  by  artesian  boring  will  not  be  dis- 
cussed here  on  account  of  its  inutility. 

An  experiment  was  made  by  the  government  of  the  United  States 
as  long  ago  as  1857  near  the  Pecos  River,  Texas,  under  charge  of  Cap- 
tain (afterwards  Major- General)  Pope,  which  resulted  in  failure,  and 
subsequent  experiments  on  these  high  plateaus  have  not  been  successful — 
therefore  the  subject  is  dismissed  as  foreign  to  the  matter  under  con- 
sideration. 

COMMON  WELLS. 

Raising  water  by  hand  sweeps  may  do  very  well  for  Chinamen,  arid 
the  Noria  or  Persian  wheel  may  answer  the  Mexican's  indolent  needs, 
but  they  are  also  denied  the  importance  of  serious  consideration ;  — and 
there  is  no  fuel  in  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  for  steam  power,  even 
if  that  were  practicable. 


IRRIGATION.  29 


FINANCIAL. 

This  statement  is  offered  for  the  consideration  of  serious  men  who 
have  capital  to  place  :  and  it  is  confidently  believed  that  a  safer  and  more 
profitable  investment  cannot  be  made. 

Beyond  all  doubt  the  waters  of  the  Rio  Grande,  north  of  the 
Mexican  boundary,  belong  to  the  United  States ;  and  are  subject  to 
"  appropriation"  according  to  law  by  any  person  or  persons,  corporation 
or  municipality  having  the  enterprise  and  means  to  utilize  them ;  and  it 
follows  as  a  natural  sequence  that  the  water  will  belong  to  its  owners. 

The  annual  income  of  a  Company  completing  this  great  enterprise 
will  continue  "  as  long  as  water  runs  and  grass  grows." 

In  addition  to  the  income  from  the  water  there  are  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  acres  of  waste  land  in  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  belong- 
ing to  the  government,  municipalities  and  individuals,  which  can  be  pur- 
chased for  five  or  ten  dollars  per  acre,  which  will  be  worth  and  sell  for 
ten  times  the  cost,  upon  the  completion  of  the  canal. 

It  is  proposed  to  take  the  water  out  of  the  Rio  Grande  in  New 
Mexico,  far  North  of  the  boundary  line  between  the  United  States  and 
Mexico,  so  there  can  be  no  international  complications. 

The  water  will  then  be  conducted  along  the  Western  slope  of  the 
Organ  Mountains,  affording  means  for  working  the  mines  known  to  exist 
there,  and  for  irrigating  the  Mesilla  Valley. 

The  canal  will  be  conducted  in  the  ancient  bed  of  the  Rio  Grande 
between  the  city  of  El  Paso  and  Mount  Franklin,  and  if  any  water  is  left, 
it  will  be  sold  to  the  use  of  the  City  of  El  Paso ;  and  for  the  purpose  of 
irrigating  the  wide  valley  lying  between  El  Paso  and  the  present  site  of 
Fort  Rice  (60  miles),  where  the  valley  closes  in. 

A  company  was  organized  by  the  undersigned  ten  years  ago  under 
the  laws  of  the  State  of  TEXAS  (with  a  subsidy  of  an  enormous  land  grant ; 
which  has  since  been  revoked),  but  the  general  incorporation  laws  of  the 
State  of  TEXAS  are  not  encouraging  to  foreign  corporations. 

The  laws  of  the  Territory  of  NEW  MEXICO  are  exceedingly  liberal ; 
and  are  equal  in  legal  sense  to  the  statutes  of  the  United  States.  The 
laws  of  the  State  of  MISSOURI  in  regard  to  corporations  seem  to  have 
been  drawn  from  mediaeval  ages. 

The  general  incorporation  laws  of  the  State  of  ILLINOIS  leave  noth- 
ing to  be  desired  by  an  honest  corporation.  An  abortion  of  an  enter- 
prise may  be  started  with  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  but 
from  the  best  intelligence  that  can  be  obtained,  it  will  require  at  least 


30 


IRRIGATION. 


ONE  MILLION  dollars  to  construct  and  equip  the  canal,  and  to  purchase 
sufficient  land  to  reward  the  undertaking.  Nothing  can  be  expected  in 
the  way  of  subsidy  from  the  great  state  of  Texas,  and  less  than  nothing 
from  the  city  of  EL  PASO;  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  not 
organized  to  construct  irrigating  canals. 

The  enterprise  is  submitted  on  its  MERITS,  and  the  undersigned 
would  be  pleased  to  receive  overtures  from  solid  men  who  are  seeking  a 
solid  investment,  and  to  grant  an  audience  on  proper  application ;  but  no 
personal  solicitations  will,  under  any  circumstances,  be  made. 

Respectfully, 

CHARLES   D.  POSTON, 

153  MONROE  STREET, 

CHICAGO,  ILLS. 


